Sundar Pichai: "Fairly High Risk" that AI Could Destroy Civilization
The executive admits that this technology requires constant reflection on its risks and maximum effort to use it in a responsible and positive way. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, shared his opinion on a possible scenario in which artificial intelligence destroys civilization during an episode of Lex Fridman’s podcast.
In the conversation, Fridman explained to Pichai the term “p(doom)”, which refers to the estimated probability that a superintelligent AI could destroy human civilization. Fridman mentioned that, for him, this probability is 10%.
Pichai, for his part, offered a more thoughtful yet objective perspective: “I think the underlying risk is fairly high, but I have a lot of faith that humanity will rise up to meet that challenge,” he stated.
Pichai, for his part, offered a more thoughtful yet objective perspective: “I think the underlying risk is fairly high, but I have a lot of faith that humanity will rise up to meet that challenge,” he stated.
He went on to explain: “If p(doom) were really high, at some point all of humanity would align to prevent that from happening. That’s why I believe we’ll make more progress in reducing that risk. The irony is that there’s a self-regulating mechanism in this process.”
He added: “I’ve been very excited about AI, but I’ve always felt it’s a technology that requires actively thinking about its risks and working very hard to use it in a way that everything goes well.” “I think I’m optimistic about p(doom) scenarios,” Pichai concluded.
Elsewhere in the conversation, Fridman asked Pichai about that same probability—but in a scenario where artificial intelligence didn’t exist, considering that humanity is also vulnerable to other threats.
To this, Pichai responded: “I think that to make progress on some of the toughest problems, it would be good to have the help of artificial intelligence.”
To this, Pichai responded: “I think that to make progress on some of the toughest problems, it would be good to have the help of artificial intelligence.”
During his appearance on Lex Fridman’s podcast, Sundar Pichai also spoke about Veo 3, Google’s new tool capable of generating hyperrealistic videos using artificial intelligence.
Fridman mentioned some of the videos circulating on social media created with Veo 3 by artists like Darren Aronofsky, which—according to him—seem to push human creativity to its limits.
He took the opportunity to ask Pichai: “How do you think about Veo and also Flow, specifically in terms of enabling artists to do amazing things, while also taking responsibility to prevent it from going too far?”
Pichai responded: “Look, you mentioned Darren, and he is definitely a visionary. Part of the reason we started working with him early on with Veo was because he’s someone who can imagine the future, draw inspiration from it, and show the way for how creatives can express themselves using these tools.”
Pichai responded: “Look, you mentioned Darren, and he is definitely a visionary. Part of the reason we started working with him early on with Veo was because he’s someone who can imagine the future, draw inspiration from it, and show the way for how creatives can express themselves using these tools.”
“I think enabling free artistic expression is one of the most important values in any society. Artists have always been the ones who push boundaries and expand the frontiers of thought. That’s why we will offer tools that are accessible to artists so they can create and share their work,” he added.
The Google CEO said he sees these tools as similar to electricity. “You make it available for people to use, without controlling every single use case built on top of it.”
He concluded: “As a society, we have to decide at a fundamental level what is acceptable and what is not. We, as a company, will take on our share of responsibility. But when it comes to freedom of artistic expression, I believe it’s a value we must strive to defend.”
Sundar Pichai was named CEO of Google on August 10, 2015, as part of a corporate restructuring in which Alphabet, the new parent company, was created.
In that context, Larry Page took over leadership of Alphabet, while Pichai became the head of Google. His appointment as CEO was made official on October 24, 2015, when the transition of Google under the Alphabet umbrella was completed.
Video uploaded by Lex Fridman on June 5, 2025.
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